T
aking teenagers on holiday can be challenging. No longer are they delighted by rainy Cornish beaches and soggy chips, glamping and bathing in a plastic bucket — which for a decade constituted our summer trips. By the time they reach their teens, their tastes have refined. Somehow they have found out about infinity pools and infinite breakfast buffets (I blame the internet).
So when I told my 13-year-old, Minna, that we would be eschewing the not-very-tropical coves of the South West for Finolhu, a ritzy resort in the Maldives to test out its brand-new “Teen hut”, she was delighted. I thought we could prepare by watching episodes of Blue Planet, but she preferred TikTok videos of travel influencers and bought four new bikinis — one for each day of our stay.
The Baa Atoll has 105 coral reefs
Our first taste of Finolhu’s delights was at Male airport where in its private lounge Minna availed herself of the buffet (chicken dumplings and a fistful of Smarties) before we boarded the sea plane. Teenagers pretend to be very cool, so it is lovely to bypass the swagger and watch them experience real wonder — which in this case began as we skidded up into the sky, the Indian Ocean and its atolls unfurling beneath us.
